This act marked a significant transformation of the city from a Jewish metropolis to a small pagan settlement dedicated to the cult of Capitoline Jupiter.

[2][4] The city's urban layout was redesigned with broad colonnaded streets, arched gateways, and forums that served as commercial and social hubs.

[3] The modest colony would change dramatically starting in the early 4th century, when Constantine the Great granted Christianity legal status within the Roman Empire.

This led to the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, laying the groundwork for its eventual transformation into a prominent Christian center during the Byzantine period.

[4] Jerusalem, once heavily rebuilt by Herod the Great, was still in ruins following the decisive siege of the city in 70 CE as part of the First Jewish–Roman War.

[11] The older view is that the Bar Kokhba revolt, which took the Romans three years to suppress, enraged Hadrian, and he became determined to erase Judaism from the province.

[12] Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina[13] and rebuilt in the style of its original Hippodamian plan, although adapted to Roman use.

[18] Historical sources and archaeological evidence indicate that veterans of the Roman military and immigrants from the western parts of the empire now inhabited the rebuilt city.

[19] Archaeological evidence from this period indicates that Roman customs, including pork consumption and the presence of statues and figured decorations, became widespread.

However, as the main cardo ran up the western hill, and the Temple Mount blocked the eastward route of the main decumanus, the strict pattern had to be adapted to the local topography; a secondary, eastern cardo, diverged from the western one and ran down the Tyropoeon Valley, while the decumanus had to zigzag around the Temple Mount, passing it on its northern side.

The original thoroughfare, flanked by rows of columns and shops, was about 73 feet (22 meters) wide, but buildings have extended onto the streets over the centuries, and the modern lanes replacing the ancient grid are now quite narrow.

[24] Near the Struthion Pool, Hadrian built a triple-arched gateway as an entrance to the eastern forum of Aelia Capitolina.

[25] Traditionally, this was thought to be the gate of Herod's Antonia Fortress, which itself was alleged to be the location of Jesus' trial and Pontius Pilate's Ecce homo speech as described in John 19:13.

[37] Byzantine Jerusalem was conquered by the armies of Umar, the Rashid caliph, in 636,[38] which resulted in the removal of the restrictions on Jews living in the city.